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Do you ever feel like you are drowning in the circumstances of life? They overpower us and drag us down in the pit of despair. My best recourse during times like these is to praise God for who He is, regardless of what I do not see Him doing in my life at the moment.

He has His plans for us and His perfect timing. He often allows trials to drag on and on and cause us discomfort, financial loss, relational discouragement and mental and physical exhaustion.

We struggle with melancholy emotions and fight against bitterness and anger. God always rescues us out of the deep waters of trials, because He delights in us (Psalm 18:16-19).

He may take a while to deliver us, in order to build our faith so that we trust in Him alone, and that we do not rely on our human understanding or resources.

During this time, God also helps us to rise above the “grouchies” and the “mulligrubs”, and to be pleasant to our family and everyone He brings our way, even if we do not feel like it.

One aspect we encounter during tough times is Satan’s lies, which he plants in our soul all of our life. We believe these lies, and allow them to cripple us with depression and despair.

Satan’s lies may even cause us to doubt God’s love, His sincerity in keeping His Word to protect us as our Heavenly Daddy, and that He cares about us enough to allow negative circumstances to come against us.

We may revert to a life of sin and addiction in order to escape the pain we feel – temporary though this carnal reprieve may be. We prolong our agony and suffering by turning away from God to the world, the flesh and the devil.

Instead, we can read God’s Word, which He will use to encourage us through the hard times. He will use it to restore our wounded heart and fill us with His peace and joy.

Prayer:

Father God, we often struggle with the horrific pain of life on this sin-cursed earth. We forget that it takes faith to embrace Your authority over our life, and to reach out to You in our times of need. Help us to continually pursue Your Agape love, regardless of how we feel or what we are going through.

Remind us that others will treat us as we allow them to relate to us, and that we do not have to believe the lies which Satan prompts others to tell us. We often allow them to heap blame on us for what is not our fault, and they control us through their behavior and attitude toward us. Help us to believe the Truth of Your Word and to reject the lies that Satan uses others to hurl at us.

Thought for the Day:

No one can make us feel worthless, because Christ died to show us that we are valuable to Him, His Kingdom and eternity; He reached down from Heaven and chose us before the creation of the world so that He can love us with His everlasting love.

A person, like me, with a prophetic nature is usually honest and true. You can trust us to live in harmony with God’s Word and to always tell you the truth. I may not always do so in love, but I am learning how to do that.

I do not have a mean spirit or intend to hurt someone’s feelings; but my words may be sharp, blunt, untactful and not wisely chosen. Prophetic people tend to “tell it like it is” and I do not usually “pull my punches”.

What you see is what you get. I do not put on airs or hide behind a mask, try to impress you or flatter you, or attempt to be someone I am not.

I am honest, upfront and unguarded. A sensitive person will shy away from someone with a prophetic nature, because although I speak what someone needs to hear, my timing is not always sensitive.

I usually have discernment and I really care about people. I want to be helpful and to set the world in right order. People think that I always want to be right, but I just call it like I see it – right or wrong.

I rarely plan what I am going to say, I spontaneously speak “off the cuff”, and I may make more enemies than friends. Prophetic people are often loners, but we are happy to spend more time in prayer than with people.

As a prophetic person attempts to bring about a new way of thinking and doing things, we try to get to the root of the truth. We are often destructive before we can be constructive.

A person with a prophetic nature will deal with rejection, arguments and disagreements. Truth in its first form is often rejected, because people do not like change.

Yet, the seed for the truth is there in the words fitly spoken, and will fester in the heart of the hearer until the words bring about spiritual maturity in the listener.

A prophetic person, especially me, must learn and then attempt to convey the heart of God along with the facts that I see are true. I need to acquire the ability to build up in love as I tear down false concepts, and also to encourage at the same time that I exhort.

Prayer:

Father God, help us to walk in the Spirit before we pull down, uproot and destroy false beliefs, mindsets and attempt to soften hardened hearts. If we are in the flesh as we endeavor to speak Your heart, we stand the chance of leaving behind a string of wounded hearts (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

Teach us to practice speaking Your truth in love, seasoned with mercy and grace. Remind us that it is well worth the time and effort this will take. These changes will make our words more acceptable and more easily digested by those we want to help. It will convey Your true heart to the hearer and make more positive changes in more lives.

Thought for the Day:

The prophetic person swims upstream and goes against the flow of conventional or modern thinking; but we must learn to edify and to give constructive criticism rather than to boldly criticize the status quo.

Attempting to control life is an impossible task. Panic attacks, endless worry, attempting to manipulate people and events, and using anger or condescension or guilt to control people’s responses and behavior are all exercises in futility.

Controlling also alienates us from the affections of our loved ones. They either cringe when we come around, avoid us or tune us out to protect themselves from what they perceive as emotional abuse.

This all stems from a deep seated fear in our soul that life will overcome us and we will drown in despair. Leaving life in God’s capable hands is the only way to face life with confidence and victory (Exodus 14:4; Psalm 127:1; Hebrews 11:6).

Living with the knowledge that we truly are incapable, frail and powerless, we thrive in a life of praise for God’s bountiful provision for us in every area of life – physical, financial, emotional, spiritual and mental (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

We are confident of His divine presence, power and majesty in our spirit, which conforms our soul by the sanctifying power of His Holy Spirit until we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

We come to the end of our self and God reveals to us that we are no longer separated from Him, but living in union with Him to the degree that we will allow Him to function in and through us by His Holy Spirit.

He fills us through all of our being with all of His fullness (Ephesians 3:16-19, Amplified Bible). We represent Him in our world, because He keeps us, teaches us and showers us with His love, unity and grace (Psalm 121; Jude 24, 1 John 2:27, 4:17)

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for providing each of us with a breaking point in our life that allows us to leave this earthly realm by Your Spirit and to see and hear the heavenly realm right here in our world. We see things from the perspective of Your heart and we walk in the power of Your might; not lifted up with human pride but motivated and empowered in meekness by Your sacred heart (Matthew 5:5).

You stripped us of our self-sufficiency and taught us that we cannot ever control life or manipulate people enough to feel safe in this world. Once we realize our insufficiency, You are our sole sufficiency (2 Corinthians 3:5). Life may still make us nervous and the unknown future may still shoot a bolt of terror through our heart, but You teach us to entirely place our every care on Your strong shoulders, because You always care for us.

Thought for the Day:
No concern of ours is too small or complicated for God to use to shower us with His blessings, once we totally surrender to His will in all things – whether we suffer deprivation or we rejoice with every good and perfect gift, which comes only from God.

Helplessness is not a characteristic any modern person wants to admit. In our do it yourself mentality, we feel that others expect us to be like the unsinkable Molly Brown of Titanic fame; we never give up, we’ve got this, we just do it.

We shudder to think of anyone considering us “less than” or incompetent or that we may need help with something. Yet with God, humility and lowliness of mind is considered a blessing. He created Eve as a helpmate for Adam, and stated that it is not good for man to be alone.

He put all authentic Believers in a Body with Christ as our head, and adopted us a co-heirs with Jesus of His Kingdom. No one is an island; we are not good alone. When we are weak, then we are strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-11).

Coming to the end of our rope is good place to be, because we can let go of our struggles, and let God be God. We end our war with our flesh, the world and the devil and we submit to God instead.

There is no pat answer, secret formula or magic carpet that will whisk us out of our trying circumstances. God’s Spirit delivers us from our fight with the flesh described in Romans 7 and sets us free into the fullness of Romans 8:1-2; no condemnation and the liberty of a child of God.

We run out of self-effort and fall broken and spent at the feet of Jesus. The only way to look is up…up into His compassionate face of love. His forgiveness fills our heart and His confidence floods our soul.

Prayer:

Father God, regardless of how hard we try, we cannot achieve any lasting results in our life without You. Empty victories and short-lived success just does not bring the satisfaction that we gain from a life hidden with Christ in You. We realize that only when we are truly broken can we do all things through You.

Remind us that only as we serve You and accomplish Your perfect will for our life can we ever hope for any lasting fruit in this world (Romans 7:21). Help us to see that we may build a tower and put our name on it, but it can fall the next day by one aggressive act of nature or terrorism.

Thought for the Day:

We are no longer slaves of unrighteousness, because Jesus Christ Himself set us free from the Law of sin and death (Romans 5:15-25, 8:1-2); we no longer dwell in this carnal world with the concepts and principles at play that attempt to control our life; when Jesus sets us free we are free indeed (John 8:36).

When we walk in the light of God’s truth, everyone can see our good works; but rather than extolling us for our efforts, they will give the Glory to God (John 3:21; Matthew 5:16).

People know there is something different about a Believer – at least they should know we are different from the world, unless we are still walking in the flesh (Galatians 5:15-26).

However, there is a great deal more to our walk with Christ than surviving trials and doing good works. Our intimacy with God increases daily, through deprivation and abundance.

We learn wisdom from His guidance and we fall in love with Him more and more each day. Throughout times of both oppression and victory, our walk remains at a steady gait, because of our personal relationship with the God of the universe.

Even when we think we are experiencing a dry spell, this is only a time of companionable silence with the Lord. He is waiting for us to break out in songs of praise and words of love and adoration for all He means to us and all that He does for us – even all the little things, which we often do not notice or tend to take for granted.

Moses warned the Israelites of this very thing. They continually took God for granted, especially during peace-filled times of blessing and tranquility. Humans always tend to trust in their own resources, especially during good times; and then we fall into the rut of selfishness and pride (Deuteronomy 8:10-18).

We see from the Israelite’s wandering in the desert that we often bring trials and hardships on our self. We reap the negative attitudes and behavior, which we allow Satan to perpetuate in our thoughts, words and actions.

However, our goal is to walk through each day trusting in the guidance of God’s Spirit. This way we side-step the pitfalls and rejoice continually in His blessings in both the lean and the bountiful times.

Prayer:

Father God remind us to continually trust in You, and to follow Your direction for each moment of our day (Proverbs 3:5-6). When you bless us, we tend to trust in our own ability, to take credit for the victories. We forget that we need You for every breath we take. You desire to be more than a “fireman” to douse the flames of the issues of life and to keep them from consuming us.

You offer us an intimate relationship with You every moment of the day. We feel Your love cascading over us like a waterfall, Your peace wrapping us in a safe cocoon in the midst of life swirling by all around us, and Your righteousness replacing the negative thoughts, choice and emotions which normally direct our life.

Thought for the Day:

Regardless of our earthly circumstances, God leads us in a level path because of the insecurity of life in this world. – Psalm 27:11

The Good News is that the Spirit of Jesus Christ within us sanctifies us moment-by-moment! He replaces:

hatred with love,

depression with true joy,

discontentment with peace,

irritation with patience,

criticism with gentleness,

backbiting with goodness,

pride with meekness,

excess with self-control,

and worry with the faith of God as we are controlled and guided by His Spirit.

Prayer:

Father God, we thank You for putting Your fruit in us in place of the negative traits we learned from others, those that are ingrained in our personality with which we are born, and those that we develop through the disappointments of life.

We give our life to You to mold and make into the divine nature of Christ as He abides within us. We want to be lights of Your character to the world around us, and to have the mind of Christ rather than the whims of our flesh, the world or the devil. Thank You for Your sanctifying work in our life.

Thought for the Day:

God replaces our negative character traits with the fruit of His Spirit as we willingly submit to His surgeon’s scalpel, the Word of God, which divides our flesh from our spirit.

Deep thinkers, mystics, scientists, authors and poets all try to pinpoint the origin and meaning of life, but they reject the truth of God’s Word. Then they come up with theories they cannot prove, even by their own laws.

Many people find fulfillment in their career, children, mate, church ministries, world travel, a new home, a sporty car, completing a “bucket list”, serving in a charity, getting involved in local politics, triumphing in a career, delving into alternative spiritual activities – which deviate from the traditional Christian world view.

This fulfillment may last for years, but as we age, we lose interest in these pursuits, because they do not really provide us with lasting fulfillment. Our human plans often operate on impulses, and are otherwise the results of us reasoning things out.

We are never quite able, however, apart from Christ, to come to understand the complete truth about life (2 Timothy 3:6-7). The wisdom and power of a nurtured life come only from the unconditional love of our crucified Christ (1 Corinthians 23-24).

Boasting in our own knowledge and human abilities is useless and quite humorous (1 Corinthians 4:7, 5:6). Looking above our human wisdom to Jesus, who is our only true source of wisdom and joy, is the way to bear lasting fruit in our life (John 15:11).

Making Jesus the center of our focus and submitting to God’s Spirit within us allows the Trinity to sanctify our carnality and nurture Christ’s divinity within us (Galatians 2:20).

Father God, thank You for the opportunity to share in the peace and glory of Christ in us. We face the trials of each day with hope and optimism, because we know that there is a seed for a miracle within each one (Hebrews 12:2-3). Remind us to stop relying on our human talents and to depend solely on You, finding out what You are doing in our life and joining You (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Clearly reveal to us that trusting in our self is useless and we end up humiliated and feeling hopeless. It is only as we walk away from evil and wholeheartedly embrace Christ in us, that health returns to our body and nourishes our bones (Proverbs 3:7-8). Reveal the truth to us that as we choose Your will over our own will we grow deeper in our union with Christ abiding within us. Jesus is all we really need to succeed in this life (1 John 3:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Thought for the Day:

In our times of trouble, we cast our cares on God, because He truly cares for us (1 Peter 5:7); He gives us His peace in exchange for our worries (Philippians 4:6, 7; 1 Peter 5:7; John 14:27); and when Satan plagues us with guilt over our past, Jesus removes condemnation for those who trust in Him (Romans 8:1);.